Talk:Purl

Purl

I think Doris Lanier to be mistaken in her reference to Shakespeare. Searching any of the full texts for The Merry Wives of Windsor (e.g., Perseus) fails to locate any mention.

The word does appear within the Shakespeare Lexicon, however, used in the context of breath and curling, perhaps a constriction of puff^* and curl,

• Rape of Lucrece - Shakespeare (1452)

There pleading might you see grave Nestor stand, As 'twere encouraging the Greeks to fight; Making such sober action with his hand, That it beguiled attention, charm'd the sight: In speech, it seem'd, his beard, all silver white, Wagg'd up and down, and from his lips did fly Thin winding breath, which purl'd up to the sky.

Purl, to curl, to run in circles: “from his lips did fly thin winding breath, which --ed up to the sky,” Lucr. 1407. Shakespeare Lexicon. Alexander Schmidt. Berlin. Georg Reimer. 1902.

purl (once): to flow with whirling motion; said of breath Lucr. 1407. A Shakespeare Glossary. C. T. Onions. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1911.

^*Shakespeare used "puff" in the context of, "to breathe, to pant", in Coriolanus and King Henry IV., Part II, although as was his want, he likely also connoted, "puff up", with respect to, prurient swelling, as well as bloated swelling from overconsumption, and swelling of decaying tissues.

More definitions of purl are given in An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language By Walter W. Skeat